Film Review
Sissi: The Young Empress
(a.k.a.
Sissi - Die junge Kaiserin
or
Sissi impératrice)
was the second of three films directed by the distinguished Austrian
filmmaker Ernst Marischka in the 1950s which followed the early life of
the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, intimately known as Sissi. The
central role of Sissi went to a virtually unknown 17-year-old named
Romy Schneider who had previously starred in a similar historical
romance,
Mädchenjahre einer
Königin (1954), also directed by Marischka. It was
through Sissi that Schneider became a household name in Austria and
Germany and was subsequently able to pursue an international career
after her breakthrough into French cinema in the early 1960s.
Despite the fame that Sissi brought her, Romy Schneider later resented
her association with the fairytale princess (which was how the young
Empress Elisabeth was portrayed in the films) and found it virtually
impossible to escape from her shadow. Even today, the names Romy
and Sissi are pretty well synonymous, and the reason for this is
self-evident. Scheinder is so perfectly suited to the role that
it is hard to imagine her in any other.
Playing opposite Romy Schneider is another fine Austrian actor (and
heartthrob), Karlheinz Böhm, son of the conductor Karl
Böhm. Whilst Böhm is best known to the English-speaking
world for his chilling portrayal of the psychopath in Michael Powell's
Peeping
Tom (1960) he is most famous in his native Austria for
playing Kaiser Franz Josef in the three
Sissi films. Böhm is
just as elegantly well-suited to his role as Romy Schneider is to hers,
and you can hardly imagine a more photogenic and well-matched screen
couple. The excellent supporting cast includes Magda
Schneider - who better for the role of Sissi's mother than the
real-life mother of the actress playing her? - and Vilma Degischer, who
is superb as the seemingly cold-hearted Archduchess Sophie.
Whilst the
Sissi films are
sometimes dismissed as anodyne and a little dated, they remain highly
popular and provide a fairly good example of Austrian cinema in the
1950s. The flatness of some of the characterisation is
unfortunately exacerbated by Ernst Marischka's reluctance to take any
risks with his mise-en-scène, but these faults are countered by
the films' lavish production values and the highly engaging performance
from the lead players. The main interest of
Sissi: The Young Empress is the
conflict between individuality and social responsibility, a theme that
is just as relevant today as it was when the film was made. The
subtly feminist subtext is as evident here as it is in the other
Sissi films - notice how most of
the male characters are portrayed as weak, comical or indecisive,
whilst the female characters are (without exception) shown to be of
sterner stuff. The young Empress Elisabeth may appear to be
a fairytale princess but it soon becomes painfully evident that she
belongs to a world in which women are expected to make great
sacrifices. Despite Romy Schneider's later reservations over the
role, Sissi is a strong and complex individual whose personal crises
are easily identified with, although it is unquestionably the charm and
humanity that the actress invests in the character that have ensured her
longevity.
© James Travers 2012
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Austria in the mid-1850s. After her marriage to Kaiser Franz
Josef, the Princess Elisabeth, known to her nearest and dearest as
Sissi, struggles to adjust to her new role as Empress of
Austria. Whilst her husband and most loyal subjects are willing
to overlook her lapses of etiquette, her mother-in-law, the Archduchess
Sophie, is less generous and soon makes herself Elisabeth's
enemy. The Empress is delighted when she finds she is pregnant,
and her beloved Franz shares her joy. But once the baby is born,
the mean-spirited Archduchess takes it from Sissi and insists that she
takes charge of the child's education, so that the Empress can devote
herself to her imperial duties. When Franz takes his mother's
side, Sissi feels betrayed and decides she must return to her home in
Bavaria...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.